Question: In developing an EFE Matrix, would it

> Give recent examples of market penetration, market development, and product development.

> Discuss how important it is for a college football or basketball team to have a good game plan for the big rival game this coming weekend. How much time and effort do you feel the coaching staff puts into developing that game plan? Why is such time and e

> List five reasons why many merger/acquisitions historically have failed.

> List six major benefits of acquiring another firm to achieve desired objectives.

> List four major benefits of forming a joint venture to achieve desired objectives.

> Could a firm simultaneously pursue focus, differentiation, and cost leadership? Should firms do that? Discuss.

> Called de-integration, there appears to be a growing trend for firms to become less backward integrated. Discuss why.

> In order of importance, list six “benefits of objectives.”

> How are for-profit firms different from nonprofit firms in terms of business? What are the implications for strategic planning?

> Define and give an example of a dividend recapitalization. List some pros and cons of doing this in a business.

> Why is it not advisable to pursue too many strategies at once?

> How does strategic management differ in profit and nonprofit organizations?

> What are the major advantages and disadvantages of an integrative strategy?

> What are the major advantages and disadvantages of diversification?

> Do you think hostile takeovers are unethical? Why or why not?

> Give recent examples of joint venture, retrenchment, divestiture, and liquidation.

> Define and give an example of a secondary buyout. Why did secondary buyouts triple in total dollar value in 2012 versus 2011?

> Give recent examples of related and unrelated diversification.

> If a company has $1 million to spend on a new strategy and is considering market development versus product development, what determining factors would be most important to consider?

> Define and give an example of reshoring. What are three reasons why reshoring is becoming more popular? What are three reasons many companies expect “never” to reshore (as Steve Jobs once told President Obama)?

> Which of the three basic functions of finance/accounting do you feel is most important in a small electronics manufacturing concern? Justify your position.

> Construct an EFE Matrix for an organization of your choice.

> As the owner of a small business, explain how you would organize a strategic-information scanning system. How would you organize such a system in a large organization?

> When someone says dividends paid are double taxed, what are they referring to?

> Explain how to conduct an external strategic-management audit.

> Could/should critical success factors in a CPM include external factors? Explain.

> List the three ways that financial ratios should be compared/utilized. Which of the three comparisons do you feel is most important? Why?

> Let’s say you work for McDonald’s and you applied Porter’s Five-Forces Model to study the fast-food industry. Would information in your analysis provide factors more readily to an EFE Matrix, a CPM, or to neither matrix? Justify your answer.

> Are you more organized than the person sitting beside you in class? If not, what problems could that present in terms of your performance and rank in the class? How analogous is this situation to rival companies?

> Distinguish between market commonality and resource similarity. Apply these concepts to two rival firms that you are familiar with.

> Even though planning is considered the foundation of management, why do you think it is commonly the task that managers neglect most?

> What are the three basic objectives of a competitive intelligence program?

> Explain why prioritizing the relative importance of strengths and weaknesses to include in an IFE Matrix is an important strategic-management activity.

> If you and a partner were going to visit a foreign country where you have never been before, how much planning would you do ahead of time? What benefit would you expect that planning to provide?

> Compare and contrast the duties and responsibilities of a CIO with a CTO in a large firm.

> Think of an organization you are very familiar with. Rate that entity’s organizational culture on the 15 example dimensions listed in Table 4-2.

> Governments worldwide are turning to “protectionism” to cope with economic problems, imposing tariffs and subsidies on foreign goods and restrictions/incentives on their own firms to keep jobs at home. What are the strategic implications of this trend fo

> List six desirable characteristics of advertisements in recessionary times.

> Think of an organization you are very familiar with. List three resources of that entity that are empirical indicators.

> Governments worldwide are turning to “nationalization of companies” to cope with economic recession. What are the strategic implications of this trend for firms that compete with these nationalized firms?

> Why may it be easier in performing an internal assessment to develop a list of 80 strengths/weaknesses than to decide on the top 20 to use in formulating strategies.

> The migration of people has slowed from (1) region to region across the United States, from (2) city to suburb worldwide, and from (3) country to country across the globe. What are the strategic implications of these trends for companies?

> Give some key reasons why prioritizing strengths and weaknesses is essential.

> Draw a breakeven chart to illustrate lowering price.

> Do the advantages of a low value of the dollar offset the disadvantages for (1) a firm that derives 60 percent of its revenues from foreign countries and (2) a firm that derives 10 percent of its revenues from foreign countries? Justify your answer.

> The global recession forced thousands of firms into bankruptcy. Does this fact alone confirm that “external factors are more important than internal factors” in strategic planning? Discuss.

> Explain why it is best not to have more than 30 percent of the factors in an IFE Matrix be financial ratios.

> Describe the “process of performing an external audit” in an organization doing strategic planning for the first time.

> If your Competitive Profile Matrix has three firms and they all end up with the same Total Weighted Score, would the analysis still be useful? Why.

> Discuss how the nature of advertisements have changed in the last few years.

> Explain why “communication” may be the most important word in Management. What do you think is the most important word in Marketing? In Finance? In Accounting?

> Explain how Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace can represent a major threat or opportunity for a company.

> Explain Cost/Benefit analysis.

> Use Porter’s Five-Forces Model to evaluate competitiveness within the U.S. banking industry.

> In your opinion, what are the four major external threats facing PetSmart, and the four major opportunities? Realizing the importance of quantification in stating key factors, how could your factors be quantified? Identify specific estimates (#’s) for yo

> In the Joy’s Daycare BE example in the chapter, how would a $1,000 annual advertising expenditure impact the business break-even point?

> As value of the dollar rises, USA firms doing business abroad see their profits fall, so some firms raise prices of their products to offset the decrease in profits. What are some risks of raising price?

> What are the limitations of breakeven analysis?

> List some legal/ethical ways to gather competitive intelligence. List some illegal/unethical ways.

> If Priceline.com increases its advertising expenses by 30 percent while keeping its price and variable costs the same, does that mean the company’s breakeven point will increase 30 percent? Show this calculation for a hypothetical firm.

> In an IFEM, a critic may say there is no significant difference between a “weight” of 0.08 and 0.06. How would you respond?

> Describe union membership trends in the USA. What are implications for strategic planning in firms such as Boeing or Heinz or Caterpillar?

> Should firms take stances on political issues?

> S&P companies are on average today paying out 31 percent of their earnings in the form of dividends, but that is down from 52 percent of earnings in some years. What are the pro’s and con’s of reinvesting earnings as opposed to paying dividends?

> Draw a breakeven chart to illustrate closing stores.

> Should firms take stances on contentious social issues? Discuss.

> Define and explain value chain analysis (VCA).

> Define and discuss “empirical indicators.”

> Do you agree or disagree with RBV theorists that internal resources are more important than external factors for a firm in achieving and sustaining competitive advantage? Explain your and their position.

> After conducting an internal audit, a firm discovers a total of 100 strengths and 100 weaknesses. What procedures could be then used to determine the most important of these? Why is it important to reduce the total number of key factors?

> Describe the production/operations system in a police department.

> Develop a Competitive Profile Matrix for your university. Include six factors.

> Why is inclusion of about 20 factors recommended in the EFE Matrix, rather than about 10 factors or about 40 factors?

> If a firm has zero debt in its capital structure, is that always an organizational strength? Why or why not?

> Define, compare, and contrast the weights versus ratings in an EFE Matrix.

> Draw a breakeven chart to illustrate an increase in advertising expenses.

> Would you ever pay out dividends when your firm’s annual net profit is negative? Why? What effect could this have on a firm’s strategies?

> Do you agree with I/O theorists that external factors are more important than internal factors in a firm achieving competitive advantage? Explain both your and their position.

> Discuss the ethics of cooperating with rival firms.

> Why do you think production/operations managers are often not directly involved in strategy-formulation activities? Why can this be a major organizational weakness?

> Discuss the ethics of gathering competitive intelligence.

> Explain how you would motivate managers and employees to implement a major new strategy.

> Let’s say your boss develops an EFE Matrix that includes 62 factors. How would you suggest reducing the number of factors to 20?

> Do you think aggregate R&D expenditures for American firms will increase or decrease next year? Why?

> Illustrate how value chain activities can become core competencies and eventually distinctive competencies. Give an example for an organization you are familiar with.

> What is your forecast for interest rates and the stock market in the next several months? As the stock market moves up, do interest rates always move down? Why? What are the strategic implications of these trends?

> Draw a breakeven chart to illustrate a drop in labor costs.

> Explain why it is important for ratings in an EFE Matrix to be 1, 2, 3, or 4 for any opportunity or threat.

> Who are the major stakeholders of the bank that you do business with locally? What are the major claims of those stakeholders?

> Discuss the meaning of the following statement: “Good mission statements identify the utility of a firm’s products to its customers.”

> Explain why a mission statement should not include monetary amounts, numbers, percentages, ratios, goals, or objectives.

> In your opinion, what are the three most important components that should be included when writing a mission statement? Why?

> Drucker says that the most important time to seriously reexamine the firm’s vision/mission is when the firm is very successful. What is this?

> Explain how developing a mission statement can help resolve divergent views among managers in a firm.

> If your company does not have a vision or mission statement, describe a good process for developing these documents.

> What are some different names for “mission statement,” and where will you likely find a firm’s mission statement?

> How do you think an organization can best align company mission with employee mission?

> Some excellent nine-component mission statements consist of just two sentences. Write a two-sentence mission statement for a company of your choice.

> Explain how a firm such as J. Crew can be doing well, but does not have an effective vision or mission statement.

> Discuss the meaning of the following statement: “Good mission statements identify the utility of a firm’s products to its customers.”